The Dolphins improved to 2-0 in the preseason with a solid 27-17 victory over the Panthers on Saturday night. You can check out the box score for the game right here. Since Sunday is a slower day for the blog, I'll just post some quick thoughts today. Look for my usual longer post about the game on Monday.
- It's always good when you can out-play a very good football team. And that's exactly what the Dolphins did on Saturday night. Miami's first-team offense and defense played better than the Panthers' first-teamers. And the Panthers were a very good football team last season. So this was certainly a game that featured more positives than negatives for the Dolphins - but there were both, of course.
- It was nice to see some of the basic 'Wildcat' plays from last season dusted off and used. But don't expect to see any new 'Wildcat' plays during the preseason. The Dolphins will surely hold off on using them in meaningless games.
- Ronnie Brown looked very good tonight. He ran the ball well and didn't show any of the hesitation that we saw at times from Ronnie last year. And he caught the ball well, too.
- Overall, the Dolphins offensive line looked much improved over last week - which is a very encouraging sign. And that's especially true about the first-team line.
- The rush defense was excellent. Outside of DeAngelo Williams' TD run - which came courtesy of three or four broken tackles, Williams was held to just 15 yards on 7 carries. And even on that TD run, if the Dolphins wrap up and make the play like they should have, DeAngelo gains nothing. That makes two solid performances stopping the run by the first-team defense.
- Chad Pennington was classic Pennington. And his numbers would even look better if Davone Bess doesn't drop that perfect throw from CP for what would have been a big gain. Davone, the most sure-handed receiver on the roster, probably won't drop too many more this year. And if he's going to drop any, the preseason is a good time to do it.
- Brandon Fields has a booming leg.
- I hope no fans broke their ankles when jumping off the Chris Williams bandwagon tonight. That emptied in a hurry, didn't it?
Like I said, we'll have much more on this game on Monday and all week. In the meantime, let's hope Sean Smith and Jason Allen get better quickly.